Goodman Fielder running hot

Shares in food company Goodman Fielder jumped 12c yesterday after being tipped as a hot stock in US investment bible Barron's. The dual-listed stock, which has traded between $2.25 and $2.32 since the start of the year, closed at a new high of $2.38 on the NZX.

Brokers said the tip - by Meryl Witmer, a US-based strategist at Eagle Capital Partners - was likely to have sparked the sudden interest in the stock.

Witmer has a reputation for sending share prices soaring when she makes her annual picks on Barron's - a weekly investment guide put out by the publishers of the Wall Street Journal. In 2004, Rinker Group shares shot up after a similar tip.

In her recommendation of Goodman, floated last year by Graeme Hart, Witmer said she liked the strong yield and saw any downside as limited at the present price. She also described Goodman chief executive (and former National Foods boss) Peter Margin as a "superstar in the Australian food industry".

"Friends Downunder say it is virtually impossible to get through a week without eating or drinking a Goodman product," she said. Liam Dann